Anti-corruption, rule of law remain top public concerns for China’s upcoming “two sessions”

By Zhang Yang from People’s Daily

An online survey conducted by People’s Daily Online revealed that anti-corruption, the rule of law, and social security were the top three public concerns of Chinese citizens for the upcoming “two sessions”.

The second session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) and the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are scheduled to begin on March 5 and 3 respectively. The sessions are especially eye-catching as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The Press Center for the Second Session of the 13th NPC and the Second Session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee officially went into service at the Beijing Media Center Hotel on Feb. 27, 2019.(Photo by Weng Qiyu, People’s Daily Online)

The survey, started from Feb. 12, has interviewed over 4.4 million Chinese internet users by 5:00 pm, Feb. 27.

Anti-corruption remained the hottest topic among the Chinese internet users for 8 times in the survey conducted in the past 17 years, and this year, it again topped the list.

In addition, the survey reported an obvious attention of the Chinese on the rule of law which ranked the second on the list.

In the third place was “social security”, a cause that concerns the practical interests of hundreds of millions of people.

The survey indicated that the improvement of medical insurance and major illness insurance, the increase of basic pension for retirees and urban and rural residents, as well as the optimization of the transfer and continuation of basic pension insurance relations were focuses of the Chinese netizens.

Education reform, Healthy China (a national strategy to improve the general health of the Chinese people), Internet+ public service, income distribution, poverty alleviation, housing system, and ecological protection respectively ranked the fourth to tenth in terms of public attention.

“Internet+ public service” is a newly added topic in this year’s survey. The survey showed that over half of the Chinese internet users have used online services of traffic violation query and fine payment, case reporting, as well as query and withdrawal of housing provident fund.